Sugar City is Buffalo’s only legal, DIY, volunteer-run,
all-ages performance venue. Accordingly, all events at Sugar City are
drug and alcohol-free and end before 11pm. Our goal is to provide an
alternative space to share and create art and community projects based
on participatory culture and a do-it-together attitude. This
organization focuses itself on the exhibition, performance, and
creation of art for those who cannot obtain space from traditional
sources. Events and initiatives include, but are not limited to music,
films, poetry readings, a zine library, meeting space, art gallery,
workshops, and more. We want to break down the barriers of what is and
isn’t “art” because in some way everyone is an artist.

Sugar City – a Buffalo, NY
based DIY art collective has found a new home on Niagara Street after
being displaced from its original stomping ground on Wadsworth Street
in Allentown. This is very exciting news considering that the
collective has had a tough time nailing down a suitable location –
there were a couple of close calls, but nothing concrete. Now Sugar
City will be situated in an area that is quickly coming back to life,
along with a new gallery, a new brewery, pet services (more on that
later), and additional news on the horizon.

With the help of Vision Niagara, a community group that is
dedicated to seeing the rebirth of Niagara Street (from Busti Avenue to
Scajaquada Creek) into a mixed bag of cultural and hospitality-based
amenities, owner of 1239 Niagara Street, Bill Breeser, was able to make
the pieces come together. It was Breeser who first helped to bring
Riverkeeper to Niagara Street. After searching for a year and a half,
Aimee Buyee (founder of Sugar City) identified the Niagara Street
location, which was formerly Playaz Club, and Compton’s After Dark
before that. Now the building will be home to a 170 person capacity art
and performance center by early summer.

“We are looking forward to being part of the development of this
corridor and to be neighbors with businesses like Santasiero’s,
Community Beer Works and the new Resurgence Brewery, BT&C Gallery,
Buffalo Riverkeeper, and more!” – Vision Niagara